Adults sometimes forget what they went through emotionally as a child during their transition from summer vacation to starting school. Now, their children are undergoing similar emotions.

During the summer, a youngsterís life is less structured and filled with many fun things to do. They enjoy many more hours of sleep and are exposed to less pressure and stress.

The ringing of the school bell changes much of this carefree lifestyle. These changes can have a psychological impact on the child. Some children are more affected than others.

Because of this, it is a time when parents not only need to observe their children more closely, but also be more supportive and available to them. Some children become anxious or depressed, especially when facing new experiences, such as going to a new school.

As they enter a higher grade, their academic work becomes more difficult. In some cases, children who previously had no academic difficulties may now face, for the first time, scholastic challenges.

Adolescents are usually at a greater risk of having difficulties returning to school. During this stage of their lives they are facing many difficult physical and emotional issues. Returning to school adds to their already existing angst.

The emotional experience of starting a new school year can be similar to what many youngsters feel on Sunday nights, knowing the next day is a school day.

This has been termed "The Sunday Night Blues." The weekend is over and itís now time to face the usual stresses of another week of school.

These emotional feelings may have made such a strong psychological impact that they remain during our adult years.

For some, the Sunday night blues never go away and reappear, not prior to going to school, but as their workweek starts. A sense of depression hovers over them and the same feeling they had as a youngster, located in the pit of their stomach, returns.

So, parents must not only be attentive to the emotions their children may be experiencing as they return to school, but they should also reflect on the similar feelings they underwent as a child. By doing so, it may help explain why they may occasionally have those Sunday night blues.

Dr. Murray Feingold is the physician in chief of The Feingold Center for Children, medical editor of WBZ-TV and WBZ radio, and president of the Genesis Fund. The Genesis Fund is a nonprofit organization that funds the care of children born with birth defects, mental retardation and genetic diseases.